More digital abstract art

Using the skerchbook phone app I can make endless doodles. With a bunch of brush options there are quite a few tricks to learn. I've been a prolific doodler since the first piece of paper was put infront of me, and I started doing abstract paintings frequently around the year 2000. Some of the colours like the magenta tongue and cyan sky in the image above are impossible to create with real watercolours. 

Tongue totem 800 x 1200 digital, February 2026 

At least digital art doesn't take up any physical space. I could do endless variations of these types of drawings. Andy Warhol was one of the first artists to make digital art in the 1980's, a company paid him to make art on their new computer drawing program. 

Three eye scribbles, 800 x 1000, digital February 2026

Going for a black and white scheme, this one made use of quite a few different brushes. Since it was grey scale I could add a lot more textural variations. Its possible to zoom in which facilitated the more detailed patterns. Its like finger painting in kindergarten again!

Bubble and pepper explosion, 800 x 1000 digital February 2026 

a few more colourful trees

Trees around the neighborhood here in Brazil are very colourful. In some cases we have similar plants in Canada but they grow indoors and are very small. Like geraniums, I saw them in the tropics once and they were the size of a medium tree. To make the purple colours I used combinations of magenta (PR122) dark blue (PB60) and deep magenta (PV55). 

Magenta purple tree, 6 x 7.5" watercolour, February 2026 

 

This tree was a type of croton, a popular house plant in Canada, but a 5 meter high tree in Brazil. I suppose many house plants originate from south America, like the snake plants grow wild here at the base of larger trees. They grow in the pockets created by spindly roots with very little soil. 

Croton tree, 6 x 7.5" watercolour, February 2026 

Full moon, steep road night

The moon was full on February 1st in São Paulo, with overcast conditions I got this view from up near the laundry platform, the moon was surrounded in a fuzzy yellowish halo. First I outlined the scene, then filled in details. When painting the moon, I started with the sky around it and left a circle ... I make the circle big and then adjust the circle until its circular...easier said than done. Then I washed it over with a yellowish glaze (PY43) to give it a fuzzy appearance.

Full moon over Cotia, 6 x 7.5" watercolour, February 2026

The Cotia neighborhood is very hilly. As you can see from this night painting, the road infront of the house is steep. Cars and motocycles labor to get up the hill which creates loud engine noises. Artificial light was the only source here which made colours odd. There are huge jungle trees in the background, painted as near black sihouettes against a dark blue sky. The tree colour was black (Pbk6) and perylene green (PBk31).

Steep hill night, 6 x 7.5" watercolour, February 2026 

On the way (digital)

On the way to visit family we drove past this scene in their neighborhood. I only got a few seconds to look at it before the car turned left, so this is my best memory, done with Sketchpad app. I mostly used the vintage pen and coarse watercolour tool. It has a colour selection to allow hue saturation and value adjustments. To do the setting sun, I used a similar approach to when I paint, along with the smudge brush. I did half a dozen abstracts yesterday with the app, Ill post those some time. We are going to visit another friend today, Davide who is active on Instagram, he is an art professor. 

On the way 800 x 1200, digital February 2026

Trees and pylons

This tree is growing up in the forest by the house. Its bark is peeling off in great ribbons, leaving a bare surface towards the top. The tree is at least 30 meters high. I used a lot of earth paints for this one like burnt sienna, yellow ochre and raw umber. Topless trees.

Tree peeling bark, 6 x 7.5" watercolour, January 2026 

 

We walked up to another park but the main bridge was under construction making it impossible to get in. So we sat in the shade, and I made a painting of  these pylons instead. Using my 'Montreal orange' mix here came in handy...pyrol orange (PO73) with benzi orange (PO62). 

Pylons path, 6 x 7.5" watercolour, January 2026 

Trees sunset highway

Across the highway there is a row of old growth trees, maybe 10 or 20 stories tall. Its part of the religious convent that was apparently sold to developers. I hope these trees are still here next time we visit. The sun was going down which created some interesting light effects. 

Tall trees sunset, 6 x 7.5" watercolour, January 2026

 

Here is the view from the overpass looking northeast, the highway was clogged with noisy smelly traffic which made me feel right at home like back in Montreal. I am quite used to painting rows of cars and highways. In this case, there was a wonderful pastel sunset with tall trees in the background. 

Pastel sunset traffic tall trees, 6 x 7.5" watercolour, January 2026

 

I started this one earlier but it rained, so I quickly moved on. The idea was to capture the variety of tree colours and textures in the park across from the house. 

Tree textures study, 6 x 7.5" watercolour, January 2026 

Scenes from memory on app

Being on this kind trip which is part vacation, part visiting, part working (for Concordia University) has been interesting. The grad student application deadline is soon, with a number of last minute students I interviewed over whats app, several collaborative grants, managing the students in my lab, researching and planning the sabbatical project, and making some paintings when time allows. On the recent excursion we drove by quite a few fantastic scenes that would have been great paintings. So I downloaded an app called sketchbook and scribbled in the scenes from memory. The first one shows a colourful gas truck. 

 

This scene, also from Indaiatuba, which I just learned is the number one ranked city in Brazil for living, shows a colourful cop car with lights, and a pink magenta flowering tree in the background. 

 For this scene, I liked the triangular piece of grass, and the imagery of a palm tree getting visually squeezed out by two massive condo towers in the background. The sketch app has a large array of pens and brushes, and I could use my colour knowledge to find the right hue, saturation and values. All the same I would have rather painted the scenes on location. I also saw stray dogs chasing cars, and enormous cactus plants growing infront of colourful plaster houses.